January 19, 2023: I Am Sanctified By The Blood

 “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” (Hebrews 13:12, ESV)

After the golden calf incident, Moses no longer met with God inside the camp of Israel. “Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.” (Exodus 33:7, ESV)

​Why did Moses go outside the camp? Because it was too unclean inside the camp. God was separating Himself from the people. God wanted the people to see He was ‘set apart’ from them. If the people were to meet with God, they had to set themselves apart to come outside the camp ‘to the holy place’ where God was. God wanted them to see He was ‘set apart’ from them. He is holy!

Jesus suffered outside the gate because all that was inside the gate had rejected Him. Jesus suffered outside the gate because all that was inside was defiled. The people were accustomed to thinking of the “camp” and everything inside it as sacred, while everything outside was profane and unclean. Jesus suffered outside the camp because, in Him, everything was made new and made holy. The old order of works inside the camp could no longer make a man holy. He would have to come out to where the Set Apart One was in order to be set apart, made holy by the blood of Jesus.
 
As you receive the cup today, remember that you have been made holy by His blood. You too, are a set-apart one. Only the blood of Jesus can sanctify you!
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